By Jason D Searcy

September 20, 2017 – Thunder Car ELKO! Championship Preview – Elko, MN

The 2017 Genz-Ryan Thunder Car Champion at Elko Speedway will be crowned on during the ninth annual Thunderstruck93 event on Saturday September 23rd.

The current point leader is veteran driver from Lakeville (MN) #3 Conrad Jorgenson.  Conrad is no stranger to Championships, he already has nine of them, four of those titles were at Elko Speedway, his first of which was in 1995.  Jorgenson has scored 126 feature wins in his career, his first win at Elko Speedway was over thirty years ago in 1986.  

Jorgenson has put a lot of laps in the rear view mirror but he is anything but washed up.  2017 has been an incredible season, coming into the final night of racing Jorgenson has Eight wins and Twenty TOP 5 finishes in Twenty-seven races.  Impressive numbers considering the high car counts and stiff competition at ELKO.  Jorgenson’s daughter Julie also races at Elko Speedway, she is in the Power Stock division and nearly scored her first feature win last week. 

Jeremy Wolff #32 from Chaska (MN) is the closest competitor for Conrad Jorgenson for the 2017 title.  Wolff won the Hobby Stock Championship at Raceway Park in 2008 and has only raced full-time at Elko Speedway for four years, he finished runner-up in both 2014 and 2015 before winning the Thunder Car Championship in 2016.  Wolff has three wins this year including the prestigious Scott Kingery Memorial trophy.  Just like Jorgenson, he also has Twenty TOP 5 finishes in Twenty-seven starts, the #32 has always been very consistently up front at Elko Speedway. 

Wolff is a crowd favorite at ELKO and has a large cheering section all dressed in blue known as the Wolff Pack.  Wolff also is well known for displaying his car at local Car Shows and Parades garnering attention for both his race sponsors and auto racing in general.  Both Wolff and Jorgenson have donated their time at Youth Impact Racing, an organization with a mission to help today’s youth succeed in life through by linking spirituality and motorsports.

Coming into the Championship night Jorgenson leads Wolff by 46 points.  The Thunder Cars will score points through qualifying (with a maximum of 31 points scored) and two feature events (maximum of 51 points per feature plus passing points in each race) during Thunderstruck93.  So if Jorgenson stumbles anytime during the event Wolff will have the opportunity to catch him.

Plus other racers will have their opportunity to score one more trophy including #99 Brent Kane from Lonsdale (MN) who has eight wins this year and like Jorgenson finished near the top of the National points in the NASCAR Home Tracks Division II standings.  Ten different drivers have won a feature event in the Thunder Car division at Elko Speedway this year.

Race fans are encouraged to attend the Thunderstruck93 on-track autograph session from 2:45pm-4pm at Elko Speedway.  All cars and drivers will participate including Elko Speedway Thunder Cars, Power Stocks, Great North Legends, BIG 8 Series Late Models and the stars of the ARCA Midwest tour Super Late Models.

Gates open at 2:30pm on Saturday September 23rd for Thunderstruck93 in memory of Dan Ryan and to benefit A Race Worth Winning in their fight to cure ALS.  Get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com, search Elko Speedway on social media, download the free ELKO Racing app or by calling (952) 461-7223.

Elko Speedway is a 3/8th mile NASCAR sanctioned oval track with stadium seating located 30 minutes South of Minneapolis just off of I-35 and County Road 2 in Elko (MN).